SquareEnix's Final Fantasy VIII
by Ben Wuest
Summary: In the beginning, I wanted to do a coverstory. Everyone does that, so I've added my own personal touch to it. While it does share the same plot with the story, I've created twists where I felt them necessary. Please enjoy this, I'm working hard!
1. Intro

**Intro**

Cerulean water flowed gently onto the fine, sienna sands alongside the grand ocean that made up much of a world very similar to our own. Somewhere across this world, a girl with long black hair and shimmering brown eyes danced joyously. All around her pedals of flowers – red flowers, pink flowers, yellow flowers – all danced in the wind with her.

She wore black leather boots that rode up just below her knees, laced with white, and a blue uniform. The uniform had once been a tight blue dress that her father had given her long ago until she cut off the front half of its silk body to wear thereafter as a jacket over her black shirt and shorts.

The longest smile she'd ever worn was across her face as she danced, whirling her arms freely wherever her body steered them. Tears of happiness moistened her cheeks and she stopped for a moment and held out her hand.

A red tulip pedal fell perfectly in the center of her palm and she closed her hand around it briefly and closed her eyes. When she opened her hand again, the pedal was a white feather, identical to the one painted alongside others on the back of her dress. The feathers on her dress formed the picture of angel wings and she remembered its meaning as the feather was lifted with the wind off her hand.

She twirled around and her face and her words reappeared once more in Squall's mind as he came back to reality at the moment of his fight against Seifer Almasy. Out of the stormy night sky fell Squall's gunblade – whirling and dancing as the girl in his mind had – and drove its tip into the cracked, rough ground of the area just outside Balamb Garden.

_I'll be here…_

Squall Leonhart of seventeen years of age grunted and rolled forward to dodge a running swing from Seifer's blade. In mid-roll Squall caught the revolver grip of his weapon and kicked off the ground. He twisted in the air and turned to face Seifer, who brushed his blonde hair from his eyes and smirked at him.

_Why…?_

The two stood about fifteen feet from each other and the moment they locked eyes it was like time slowed dramatically as two flashes of lightning lit the sky and they took off again.

_I'll be 'waiting'… here…_

The gunblades clashed again, creating a quick shower of sparks directly above the two young men, but this time the owners did not continue running to a safe spot. Their swords eased for a moment and Seifer lifted his behind his head and brought it down to what could have been a lethal blow had Squall not braced his sword above his head. Squall kicked Seifer back as he rose to his full height and ran at Seifer in attacking stance.

_For what?_

Squall struck thrice and blocked twice before attacking again. After about his fourth block from Squall's forceful strikes Seifer punched him across the lower jaw, knocking him backward. Squall's vision blurred for a second, but when it regained sharpness he raced at Seifer only to see a blast of fire skyrocket from Seifer's outstretched palm.

_I'll be waiting… for you… so…_

The fire pushed Squall into an incomplete back-flip that threw him flat against his chest. He grunted and opened his eyes to see that his gunblade was sitting naked far from his reach; torn from his grasp in the rush of flames.

_If you come here…_

Squall jumped to his feet and his eyelids flew open as Seifer uppercut his gunblade from just beneath his left eye, between his eyebrows, and just into his forehead. A splash of blood stained their stone boundaries; Squall's blood. Squall gripped his bleeding face, restraining a scream. Seifer smirked again before whirling around and throwing the tip of his boot into the back of Squall's head.

_You'll find me._

Squall's body laid out on the stone as the first of many drops of rain fell from the dark sky above and the last thing he saw before losing consciousness was her face one last time as her words finished their echoes.

_I promise._


	2. Awakening

**Chapter One:**

**Awakening.**

The glass double-doors hissed open and Quistis Trepe trekked into the infirmary, the heels of her leather boots clicking gently with every passing step. She pulled her reading glasses off her face and pocketed them before reaching out and shaking the hand of Dr. Kadowaki.

"Nice to see you, Quistis," Dr. Kadowaki greeted as she lifted a clipboard and pen off her desk. "Just sign here and your student is all yours again."

Quistis gave a half-smile to Dr. Kadowaki before taking the pen and clipboard. Dr. Kadowaki was a short, plump woman with short, curly black hair and always kept a pleasant smile on her face. That was not Quistis at all. Quistis was a nineteen-year-old teacher at the Balamb Garden. She was a tall, thin woman with long blonde hair that she always kept in a kind of ponytail above a red and black uniform.

She replaced her reading glasses to sign her name in a graceful cursive she'd perfected over the years before handing back the clipboard. "Great," Dr. Kadowaki said, smiling as she took clipboard from Quistis's gloved hand. "He's just this way."

Quistis removed her glasses and pocketed them again before asking, "How bad is it?"

"It's going to leave quite the scar across the side of his nose, but he's completely recovered now and all set for his test today." Dr. Kadowaki said as she escorted Quistis to Room 06. She slid a card through the reader and the door hissed open and she left Quistis to see Squall for herself.

He was sitting up in his hospital bed, wrapping his black jacket lined with rabbit fur over his white shirt when she saw him and he saw her. "Squall," Quistis said, shaking her head and letting out a small chuckle, "I knew it would either be you or Seifer."

"From what I understand," Squall said, speaking as he laced his boots, "it was both."

"Yes, well, Seifer did get quite a cut as well, but _he_ just needed a bandage." Quistis said. She smiled and turned, "Come on, you've still got to take your SeeD application test. Get to your dorm room and prepare. In the meantime, I'll be waiting for you at the front gates. Got it?"

(Cut Scene)

Squall walked out of his dormitory room, holding his gunblade at his side. It still had a bloodstain at the tip, but he chose not to clean it off just yet. He knew what happened at tests like these.

He walked down the long hall of room entrances, the numbers on the doors descending in number with every passing door. He was a tall man of seventeen, with long, dark brown hair and matching eyes. His lips were solid and crimson and his left ear held an earring embedded with a white jewel.

He wore three belts; one lining the belt-loops of his black pants, the other two criss-crossing across his waist. On his right belt, there was a custom leather loop were he could carry his gunblade like a holster. His boots thumped on the red carpeting as he progressed down the hall and out into the open campus of Balamb Garden.

Above him, the bells of noon rang out into the open air. All around him, classmates were chattering and laughing and singing as they walked around on the paths. In areas around the open paths, fountains of various designs spat water into small pools where, at the edges, students would go about their daily lives of studying, eating, talking, etcetera.

Squall stopped to watch the bells as they rang in the towers high above, listening to their melodic chiming that reminded him he was alive. Then, he walked toward the front gates. He passed the cafeteria where, once again, they were fresh out of hot dogs. At the front of the line, a man in blue wind-pants and a red vest with bleach-blonde hair complained at their lack of hot dogs. When he was told off by the waitress, he instead ordered nachos and sat at a table in the corner.

_He's in my Drawing class,_ Squall thought as he continued down the path toward the front gates. _Zell, wasn't it? I don't know._

He turned his attention back to where he was walking in time to watch a girl in a yellow outfit and tall brown boots run right into him, knocking him onto his back. She scrambled to her feet nervously and said, "Sorry, mister! I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you up!" She held out her hand, brushing back her light brown hair, curled at the tips.

Squall ignored the offered hand and got to his feet, brushing the dirt off his back and pants. His eyes wore a surprised expression, but he kept cool. "You ok?" He asked politely.

She nodded a smiled and wrapped her arms behind her back. "Sorry about that, mister. I'm new here; just got transferred from Trabia Garden up north, and I'm still adjusting to the change!" She cocked her head, "Hey! Are you busy? I was hoping to find someone who could maybe show me around, if you don't mind?"

Squall turned his head and rolled his eyes (_Now look what you got yourself into_, he thought) before turning back. "Ok, come here." He progressed further toward the front gates, to a box-like object only a few yards from where they crashed. "This is a directory of the entire school."

He pressed the **on** button and the screen turned on. "We're here at this bottom area, at the front gates." It was a map with eight keys, each labeled with their correct area. "This key to the right is the library. The key to the left is the infirmary, where you go if you aren't feeling good or if you've broken something."

"A clinic. Got it." The girl said, "What's the doctor's name?"

"Dr. Kadowaki. She's a nice lady once you get to know her." Squall said, "The key here above the library is the training center. You've got to go there with a serious attitude though, because there are fiends in there that can get you killed if you aren't careful." He watched her expression go from a smile to more of a nervous smile before she nodded. He continued, "This area here above the infirmary is the quad, where some students go to socialize during free periods. And above that is the cafeteria. They have good food there every once in a while, but it's also kind of expensive. I usually walk to Balamb for cheaper food, but it's up to you. Just above the training center is the parking lot. Do you have a car?"

"No," the girl said shyly.

"Then it doesn't matter." Squall said.

"It's kind of off-subject, but what's the headmaster's name?" The girl asked, standing up straight and crossing her arms. "I have to ask him some questions of my own."

"Headmaster Cid, and you can find him in his office on the third floor, but you can only get there with permission from an instructor." Squall said, reminding himself subtly that he still needed to get back to Quistis… "Finally, this area at the top of the screen is the dormitory hall, where all our rooms are located. They're ok rooms, but kind of small."

"Thanks," the girl said. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth, "I'm sorry! I forgot to introduce myself!" She held out a hand, "The name's Selphie Tilmitt."

Squall turned his back to her, "Squall," he said before walking toward the front gates. Ignoring it when she called him impolite, he walked slightly faster so as to not lose Quistis's faith in his appearance.

(Cut Scene)

"Do you have your captor card from class yesterday or is it still in your dorm room?" Quistis asked when she saw Squall. He opened a small pouch on his belt and pulled out a blank card with a chip built into the middle, called a captor card, and he showed it to her. "And your drawing chalk?" She asked, smiling when he drew three sticks of white chalk from the same pouch. "Good work, Squall, you're doing great."

She reached into a pouch on her belt and drew two cards and handed them to him. "Quetzalcoatl and Shiva; your two Guardian Force cards. You remember how to use them still, right? It's been a while since we reviewed GFs in class."

Squall took his two cards and flipped the titled sides against his palm and showed her the red button on the back of both cards. "Hold down the button for three seconds until it turns blue, then throw the card down on the ground and get as far away as possible."

Quistis smiled and gave him a pat on the back. "Good. Let's get this over with then."

(Cut Scene)

Fire Cavern was located only half a mile east of Balamb Garden, so the trip there didn't take long. Along the way, Quistis briefed Squall about what to expect inside the cave; fire, fire-based fiends, and Ifrit; the Guardian Force of fire. But he had confidence that he could do it. This was a mission for Level 4 students. He was a Level 6, due to intense training and studies in his free-time, since he didn't have much a social life…

"You'll have ten minutes to get to Ifrit's throne and defeat him and get out again. I won't be helping unless it's absolutely inevitable." Quistis continued as they walked up to two monks guarding the entrance to the Fire Cavern.

"Halt." The one on the right called out with a strong voice, his face never showing beneath the straw of his wide-brimmed hat.

"Name and title." The monk on the left demanded.

Quistis cleared her throat, "Quistis Trepe, Level 4 SeeD Instructor, requesting a ten-minute test challenge."

Both monks nodded and cleared the path to Fire Cavern between them. "Ten minutes, starting now." The monk on the right said. Squall led the way into the small hole, with Quistis following soon after.

All around them, lava flowed into the ground toward the ocean floor many miles away and Squall's forehead immediately beaded with sweat. "Let's make this quick," he said to Quistis. She nodded and followed as he began to run down the path of hardened lava.

They came to a wall where, on both sides, waterfalls of lava crashed down into the pools they'd seen before. Squall dug his hands into the small pits and climbed as fast as possible, not wanting to waste any time.

"You're handling this well." Quistis said, unhooking her whip. She snapped her arm upward and the whip fastened around a spike of hardened lava protruding from the cavern's wall. She pulled herself up and did a flip at the top to land on her feet at the peak of the wall Squall climbed. She reached down and helped Squall up the last bit of climb, and he accepted her offer.

"Usually my students will start freaking out by now," Quistis said, the light of the lava glowing off her bright blue eyes. "But you're keeping cool." She continued as they ran again.

"… ok." Squall said as he saw Ifrit's throne in the distance. It had to be it; there was nothing else of interest in the entity of the spacious cavern that was reachable by this path. It was massive, shaped like a thumb rising from a ring of hardened lava. What bothered Squall was…

_Where's Ifrit?_ He thought as, behind him, Quistis trailed off in her speech to him.

They continued further until they reached the ring surrounding the thumb of hardened lava. "This is it, Squall," Quistis said, walking ahead of him to a small control panel. It was odd to Squall, in a way, to see the panel – technology – amongst the entire natural that was the lava. "Are you prepared?"

Squall nodded and reached to his belt and drew his gunblade. A small pendant hung from the butt of the handle, depicting a lion's head made of pewter. It was this pendant that Squall's memories of childhood were protected and enclosed. Quistis pressed three buttons on the panel and there was a humming that seemed distant, but Squall could feel the earth vibrating beneath his feet.

Then, from the lava, a great beast rose. From its mouth, magma dripped and it looked at Squall with glaring eyes. Its fists and feet were chained, the chains running into the lava, serving as restraints to keep it from _murdering_ students like Squall. It was built somewhat like a gorilla – with fur on all areas of its body except for the thick-skinned chest plates – but it looked more like a bipedal wolf with ram horns on its crown.

Squall crouched to his fighting stance and watched as the creature lifted its powerful, flaming fists above its head and brought them down. He rolled out of the way to dodge them, watching as the ground rose in a wave of broken chunks of the lava rock. He kicked off the ground and flew high above Ifrit, breaking his blade into the groove of its forehead and dragging the sharp metal down its spine. He kicked off the beast's lower back and landed on the ring of lava rock just behind it.

The beast roared and whirled around to face Squall, blasting fire out its nostrils at him. He held up his gunblade and smacked the fire with the flat of the blade, deflecting it back at the creature. Then, he swiftly drew a stick of white chalk from his pouch and drew an asterisk into the lava rock, symbolizing a snowflake. He tapped the center of the snowflake with his index finger and it rolled into a small white ball. Squall took the white ball and threw it at the beast and a large rock of ice grew into its left breast, sizzling as it evaporated with the difference in temperatures.

Ifrit roared into the space of the cave and began the thrash around, breaking stalagmites off the ceiling, and shattering stalactites from the ground around Quistis and Squall. Quistis drew her whip as a chunk of rock came at her and she snapped her weapon forward. The edge of the whip cracked the rock and broke it into two pieces that went around her and into the lava pools around them. She looked up at Quistis and then to Squall. "Squall, use Shiva before he destroys the entire cave!"

Squall looked up at her before replacing his stick of chalk with a card with Shiva's photo and status drawn upon its face. He held down the red button on the back for three seconds, watching it fade to blue before he threw it down on the ground. Then, he jumped to his feet and ran after Quistis, taking her hand before leading them both toward the path they'd come from.

An explosion of light blasted from the small card and a woman in a rock of ice appeared amongst the light. Ifrit stopped thrashing and instead opened his eyes wide at the sight of the woman. "Not Shiva!" He shouted, feeling his chains restrain him from fleeing.

The woman's eyes opened, her skin blue and long hair golden amongst the entire-black color to the space between the eyelids. She whispered a soft word and the rock of ice exploded all around her. Wind blew outward from his blue-skinned body, blowing billions of small snowflakes that lifted at the ground beneath her feet. She reached out slowly with her left arm, keeping her fingers collected above the palm and her violet lips spread gently. "Diamond Dust," she whispered and Ifrit screamed as her fingers snapped.

An explosion of sound fled out from her fingertips and Squall and Quistis ducked behind a rock as another flash of light burst with the wave of sound…

And then there was silence.

Squall opened his eyes and slowly rose to his feet. He smirked at the sight. All the lava in the room was coated in ice. Every stalactite and stalagmite was completely white with snow. Then, soon after, the atmosphere became quite cool instead of oven-like.

Beside him, Quistis rose to her feet and began to walk back toward Ifrit, who was now a half-frozen statue. "Alright then," Ifrit breathed, "I'll join you."

"Not me," Quistis said as Squall lifted his Shiva card from behind Ifrit. She nodded to Squall, "Your debt is to Squall." She looked form Ifrit's eyes to Squall, "Got your captor card still?"

Squall nodded and drew his blank card. Unlike a GF card, the captor card's button was already blue. "What do I do with it?"

"Here," Quistis said, taking the card from him. "Just hold down on the blue button, like this, and tap it to the GF you wish to capture." She looked to Ifrit from behind the pressed button held down by her thumb. "You ready, Ifrit?"

Ifrit nodded, cracking the ice attached to his neck. "Do it." He said and Squall cocked his head. Quistis tapped the blank card to his nose and there was a dim light as Ifrit evaporated into tiny light particles that gathered around the card. Then, they were absorbed into the card and Quistis handed it over to Squall. Now, the card had a photo of Ifrit and his status.

Squall looked confused, but decided he would ask some other time. "How much time left?"

"Three minutes," Quistis said, giving him a pat on the back before running on the ice and snow toward the exit. Squall smirked a little before shaking his head and running after her, placing the new Ifrit GF card into his pocket.


	3. Dollet

**Chapter Two:**

**Dollet.**

The SeeD finalists were grouped into teams of three; their leader assigned a specific task for their final test. Seifer was assigned to be Zell Dincht and Squall's team leader. Then, once assigned their squad code (theirs being Squad B) they were loaded onto the Balamb ships to travel to their mission location; Dollet, to the west.

Zell Dincht sat in the small deck inside their compact ship, twiddling his thumbs as he hummed his favorite hymn. His legs were rapidly moving up and down and his neck continuously moved from side-to-side as he looked nervously at the small room around him. Above him, a fly buzzed while banging into the ceiling light periodically, distracting the rhythm of his hymn.

Before him, Quistis was sitting cross-legged with her reading glasses on her face as she read a blue book. Across from him, Seifer was using his index finger to pick today's lunch from the cracks of his teeth. And beside him, on the same couch, Squall was sitting with his face in his hands. Across his lap was his shiny, silver gunblade and Zell bit his bottom lip, "Hey Squall, can I look at that?"

Squall glanced over at him before resuming his blank expression. He didn't respond. Zell looked over at Seifer, "You nervous for today? The final test; sounds like a big deal, huh?"

Seifer slid his tongue across the fronts of his teeth and glared at Zell before continuing his cleaning. Zell looked at Quistis as she was flipping the page in her blue book. "What are you reading, Instructor Trepe?"

Then, without even sparing a glance, Quistis muttered, "A book, Zell."

"What's it about?" Zell asked, leaning forward. By the table-lamp, his tattoo of black fire tracing his left sideburn was a bit more obvious to whoever would care to see.

"I don't know," she replied. Zell sighed and shook his head. He leaned back in the couch, then leaned forward, then stood and began to warm up is muscles by throwing punches forward while hopping.

After only a few seconds, Seifer's voice killed the silent mood when he cried out, "Sit down, Chicken-wuss."

"What did you call me?" Zell shouted, his jaw dropping as he narrowed his eyes.

"You heard me, Chicken-wuss." Seifer said. Quistis closed her book and Squall sat up as Seifer rose to his feet. "We'll be there in ten minutes. Can you go that long without making a sound?"

The room fell silent. Squall locked eyes with Quistis before she stood, "That's enough boys. Sit back or I'll dock your test points, got it?"

Behind her, a woman with long black hair cleared her throat as she walked into the room, wearing a gray SeeD uniform. "My name is Xu. I was told by Headmaster Cid to come in and brief your squad on their mission, if you don't mind, Instructor Trepe?"

Quistis whirled around and smiled, "If you would please, Xu."

Xu nodded and returned the smile, setting her portfolio down on the table between the two couches. She opened it and pulled out a scroll and unrolled it for them to see. "This is a map of Dollet," she said as she hung the unrolled scroll on a hook on the wall. She drew a pointer from her pocket and touched it to the bottom of the map.

"The ships are going to land here, on the beach at the south end of the city…"

(Cut Scene)

The gates at the starboard of the nine compact battleships dropped into the sand. At the entrance to **SHIP/B **, Squall stood to Seifer's right, sliding his gunblade into its holster on his belt. Seifer was holding his long, black gunblade at his side, a smirk of excitement across his lips before he said, "Ok, let's go."

The three boys ran forward, running somewhat in-line with the dispatched soldiers from the other compact battleships. Zell was strapping his brass knuckles to his black gloves. Squall drew his gunblade and checked to make sure that it was loaded with fresh bullets. Seifer charged ahead. He didn't care about what happened to his team, as long as he was the victorious one.

The city of Dollet was in total chaos…

("Twenty-three hours ago," Xu continued as Squall watched from his seat on the couch, "the Galbadian army seized the city. Dollet moved its army to the mountains, and the Dollet Dukedom Parliament sent a request to SeeD."

"What do _we_ do?" Zell asked impatiently.

Squall glanced over at Zell, about to say something, but decided against it. _You're so foolish,_ he thought, _Why not just give her a second?_

"Of course, Zell." Xu said before continuing. "Galbadia has since begun mopping up the remaining Dollet soldiers. This poses a threat to their city's survival, of course, but there is still hope. This is where we come in.

"Still, Galbadia continues to send their soldiers into the city to further their trail up the mountain path. All SeeD candidates have the mission of stopping all incoming soldiers from making it to that mountain path."

"Sounds important," said Zell.

"Sounds _boring_," said Seifer, his chin resting in the palms of his hands. "So you're assigning us all the little things, huh?"

"Dollet is not asking much out of us, given the monetary rewards they are offering us in exchange for their liberation. You should be honored to be doing this, Seifer," Xu said, "not reluctant." She straightened up and nodded, "We will be landing soon. It is expected that the battle will already be underway at arrival, so do prepare in the meantime.")

Squall climbed over a railing onto what looked like a stage for summer beach parties, though it looked as though it hadn't had any performances for a while. The stage was the very start of the city's fashionable appearance; made of evenly-spaced blue bricks that followed throughout the city streets and sidewalks lining the market where he came to next. He ran past a convenience store and pet shop, following Seifer's lead, and many other buildings. They crossed beneath a bridge connecting two of the towering buildings, where a boy sat at a corner with his dog. Tears trickled slowly down the boy's cheeks.

The sky was very quickly fading from bright blue to black with the oncoming storm…

Zell's running slowed to a stop at the sight when they turned the corner into the town's center. There was a towering water fountain depicting nineteen screaming children with the water streaming from their gaping mouths. The pool at their feet contained chunks of the concrete fountain from the artillery fired during the war.

"Focus, Chicken-wuss, or you'll get yourself killed," Seifer shouted. He stopped only yards between Zell and the fountain and turned to his two squad members. "This is it. This is where we were assigned to wait for Galbadian soldiers. Keep your eyes open and watch your back, got it?"

Squall cocked his head and Seifer smirked, "Don't take it personal, Squall." He said, "It's not that I care about either of you, it's that I'm your leader. It would count against me if I didn't come back with a full team."

As Seifer spoke, a shadow overcame the city and it was suddenly dramatically darker. Squall looked up and around him, counting the passing seconds. _Maybe this will be harder than I thought_, he thought.

The first of millions of raindrops fell from the gathering clouds above them and landed on the tip of Squall's nose. Then, the town center was illuminated with the light of the streetlamps and Squall saw two soldiers with gunblades charging at him. "Zell! Seifer!" Squall shouted as he lifted his gunblade above his head. Both gunblades sparked against the flat of his blade and he kicked them back and ran forward to keep up with them.

To his left, Seifer hurried faster and swung his sword against one staggering soldier. Squall, in the meantime, struck the second soldier with his gunblade, cutting a long slash across its armor. The soldier screamed and Squall kicked it in the side of its head, knocking it flat onto the ground.

He glanced at Seifer in time to see him stab his soldier through the chest and kick it off his blade. "Galbadian scumbags." Seifer said, spitting on the soldier's face as it bled on the ground. He walked over to Squall and stabbed his gunblade into Squall's unconscious soldier, causing Squall to bite his bottom lip. "What are they good for anyway?"

He looked around him, searching the falling rain for any signs of movement beyond him and his teammates. "Zell," he shouted, though he did not care to look around for him. "You see anything?"

"I can't see anything." Zell shouted back from somewhere behind Seifer and Squall. Squall turned and saw three soldiers run through the town center toward the north end of town. Toward the mountains.

Seifer saw them too and shouted, "Let's get them!"

"Seifer!" Squall shouted, gripping Seifer's shoulder. "We have the orders not to leave the town center!"

"This place is boring me," Seifer said, shoving Squall's hand off his shoulder. "Live a little, Squall, that's why you're such a goody-goody!"

Squall fell silent and looked to Zell. Zell's eyes widened and he said, "You aren't really going, are you, Squall? Don't take Seifer's word for anything!"

"If those soldiers get too far ahead, they could be the end of Dollet." Squall said. He turned to Seifer, "I'll go with you."

Seifer smirked and patted Squall on the back, "Let's go then." The two nodded and ran after the three soldiers.

Zell stood in shock, feeling water droplets running down his face as he watched the two disappear into the darkness beyond the streetlamps. "Oh come _on_." He said, stamping his feet on the ground as he fought with himself to make a decision. He stopped and looked to where they disappeared, "I can't believe I'm doing this." He said before chasing after them.

(Cut Scene)

From behind her night-vision goggles and beneath the hood of her yellow raincoat, Selphie Tilmitt could clearly see two men standing atop the communication tower at the base of the mountain pass just north of Dollet. "What do we have here?" She asked slowly to herself. She zoomed in and could see that one man was holding an umbrella over the other man to shield the rain as he worked with power cables.

Then, behind her, she could hear three voices coming toward at a very fast speed, so she quickly ducked behind a boulder. Soon after, as she expected, three Galbadian soldiers came around the path's corner and ran, cradling their rifles in their arms. She gritted her teeth and lunged out into the open, snapping the tip of her nunchakus into the side of the leader's head, instantly toppling him to the ground.

The other two soldiers raised their rifles behind her and Selphie smirked as she heard them shout "Freeze!" simultaneously. "Drop your weapons!" The one to her left demanded. She slowly brought her nunchakus to her left hand and held them out for the soldier to take.

When his hand touched hers, she rolled her wrist to put her hand from under the soldier's hand to the top. Then, she forcefully thrust her elbow into the man's jaw, throwing him into the line of fire from his partner's rifle. Selphie used the man as a shield as she charged at the soldier with the working rifle, his dark blue uniform with silver plates spattering with dots of red. She threw the soldier into the other one, causing him to sandwich between the dead soldier and a boulder.

But then, the soldier kicked his partner off him, throwing him back at Selphie. Selphie and the dead soldier catapulted over the edge and off the rise of boulders. Her fingernails scratched ridges into the rock as she clawed her way up. But the rain glossed the rock and Selphie screamed as she fell toward the rocky bottom. The soldier at the top smirked and looked at the communication tower before continuing his trek…

(Cut Scene)

The three ran up a long staircase traced with foliage, skipping steps in their pursuit of the three Galbadian soldiers. Seifer led the way with Squall and then Zell at his heels, whipping his gunblade as he pumped his arms to gain more speed. Then, the stairs quit and broke into a path lined with boulders of all shapes and sizes.

Seifer stopped suddenly, as did Squall, though Zell ran into both of them and fell backward. Before them there were two Galbadian soldiers laying (_Dead?_ Squall wondered) on the cold, wet stone path. From a distance there was a lamppost, but lighting was limited. But even with as little light as they had, Squall could see that the nearer soldier's left temple was broken open and smashed in. Also, the eye socket beside it had caved, probably from the impact, but it was hard for him to tell.

The second soldier, lying nearly twenty feet away, was covered front-to-back, top-to-bottom with bullet holes and his face was buried in the pool of his own watered-down blood. "What…?" Zell breathed.

"What happened _here_?" Seifer asked. Squall crossed his arms and looked to the communication tower.

"Never mind," he said, "the third one must have gone in there."

"I know that," Seifer growled, shooting a glare to Squall. "So let's get this show on the road." And with that he ran off the path and jumped off the wall of boulders to the path below. Then, he rushed toward the communication tower.

There was a zipping sound that caught Squall's attention and he glanced behind his shoulder just as a girl in a bright yellow raincoat staggered to an upright stance. "Oh!" She exclaimed, smiling at Squall and Zell, "I've been looking all over for you guys…" She swung her arms around crazily and yelped as she toppled forward, rolling down on the path at Zell's feet.

"You ok?" Zell asked, suddenly alarmed as he crouched to help her up.

She stood up and nodded, her face flushed red with embarrassment. Then, she stopped and looked slowly all around her. "Where's your squad captain?"

"You just missed him," Zell said, pointing to the communication tower as its doors closed behind Seifer's white trench-coat with a red cross-shaped symbol trailing down the center of the white material.

The girl's eyes grew large and she shouted, "Hey! Squad B captain! I _need_ to speak to _you_!" And, with those words, she too dived off the edge like Seifer had and chased after him. She landed with a grunt and stood up straight, brushing the mud off her raincoat with the backs of her hands. "Selphie, you slay me," she told herself as she turned around and looked up at them, "Playing it like a pro, just like they taught you in Trabia." Then, she put her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Come on! You'll fall behind! Just jump, it's easy!" After that, she gave a 'girly laugh', as it was described in Trabia, and she curtsied before running off toward the communication tower.

"Selphie, you slay me," she repeated as she progressed through the rain.

* * *

A/N: So it hit me while I was on vacation; I don't want to just cover Final Fantasy VIII, I want to revitalize the definition of the game. You might have realized already that I've added some new features to this book that you won't see in the game, like the GFs being summoned in the form of cards, or magic being literally drawn with chalk. Now I want to do some new things with the characters. This is greatly noticed (I should think) when you look at the 'new' Selphie, now equipped with a grapple-hook launcher and a bad-girl attitude. Who is to say that in the parts we don't see her in the game that she doesn't play devious every now and then? I mean, really, who can keep a smile for twenty hours of game-play? Really? But feel free to tell me if I'm overstepping my boundaries in doing all this, it's what inspires me to keep going! 


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